Archive for the ‘The Wee Papa Girls’ Category

One Man and a Blog…Machine

Sunday, March 24th, 2013

Sorry for the lack of updates last week. Life got crazy for a bit, and I lost an entire day because I had to transfer all my music to my new computer. And yo, when you have about half a terabyte of MP3s that shit takes some serious time.

I got good stuff planned for this week though! Check it!

Norman Cook
For Spacious Lies
For Spacious Beats
The Invasion of The Estate Agents
For Spacious Ballad
Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim has gone by about a billion aliases (The Cheeky Boy, Sunny Side Up, Pizzaman, just to name a few) but this 1989 12″ single is one of the few to bear his actual name. It came out during a rather odd time in Cook’s career. He had left The Housemartins a few years before, but was still a year away from finding his first taste of success in the burgeoning dance scene as part of Beats International. He hasn’t yet found his “voice” as a producer/remixer/DJ, and it shows. The A-side “For Spacious Lies” is very generic by-the-numbers hip house, the kind of track made by someone looking to score with broad appeal. It’s rather boring.

Thankfully, Cook fared far better with the B-side “The Invasion of The Estate Agents.” It’s pretty much just the instrumental for Beats International’s cover of “Just Be Good To Me,”  an incredibly mellow bass groove with a Morricone sample built in. It works great, so great that Cook would later re-use the track as a the basis for his first hit single with Beats International, “Dub Be Good To Me.”

The Wee Papa Girls
Heat It Up (Adonis Chicago House Mix)
Heat It Up (Detroit House Mix)
Heat It Up (Extended Mix)
Heat It Up (Single Edit)
Heat It Up (Adonis House Instrumental)
The Wee Papa Girls are awesome. I already established this when I wrote about them before, first when discussing the Jive Presents Acid House LP, and then again when posting the Jive Presents In House album.

This time, however, they’re made even all the more awesome with the additional production and remix work by Two Men and a Drum Machine. Who are Two Men And a Drum Machine, you ask? Well, they would be a side project by Andy Cox and David Steele. You may not recognize those names, but you’ve surely heard their music before. In the early 80s they were part of the original line-up of The (English) Beat, the excellent ska act who gave up “Mirror in the Bathroom” and “Save It For Later,” among other clasics. Then after that group broke up the duo met singer Roland Gift and formed Fine Young Cannibals, who had major smash hits with “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Good Thing.” (They also did the most shockingly brilliant cover of “Ever Fallen In Love” you’ll ever hear).

Their output as TWo Men and a Drum Machine is sadly sparse. The only track the duo released as Two Men And a Drum Machine was the 1988 single “Tired of Getting Pushed Around,” which is actually credited to “Two Men A Drum Machine and a Trumpet,” and this track by The Wee Papa Girls is their only production credit. It’s a shame, their work as Two Men and a Drum Machine was way more interesting and innovative than anything they put out as members of Fine Young Cannibals.

They definitely missed their calling as acid house/hip-hop producers. “Heat It Up” is a great track, of the stuff by The Wee Papa Girls that I’ve heard it’s clearly the best. The acid house production is tight, and the flow by the girls is great. How great? So great that The Beastie Boys swiped parts of it wholesale some 10 years later for their track “Alive.” Either that or both artists swiped from the same source material. If anyone out there knows of another track that features the same vocal hook, please tell me. Rap is so full of “homages” that sometimes it can be hard to tell who was the real originator and who was borrowing from who.

Posted in B-sides, Fatboy Slim, remixes, The Wee Papa Girls | 8 Comments »

Jive Presents In-House Volume 1

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

I used to think Jive Records was dogshit, but that was just as much their fault as it was mine. Shit, you know what? It was way more their fault than it was mine.

They’re the ones who subjected the world to Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and N-SYNC. As a teen in the late 90s it was nearly impossible to turn on MTV and not see their name at the bottom of some video I found atrocious by some vapid pop act who I thought was sucking the lifeforce out of popular music. They didn’t do much to improve their image for me in the 2000s either, signing artists like T-Pain, Eamon (fuck you Eamon, I don’t want you back), Joe, Nick Carter and probably dozens of other shitty pop acts I can’t even remember. In 2011, when it was announced that their parent label RCA Records would be dissolving the label and shutting it down, I didn’t shed a tear for their demise.

It wasn’t until recently that I discovered their important role in the history of new wave, hip-hop and dance music. They were the first label to new wave/big hair pioneers Flock Of Seagulls, and they were also the home to golden age rap legends Whodini. As their influence grew in the late 80s, they signed other important hip-hop artists like KRS-One, Schooly D and A Tribe Called Quest.

Digging through their discography on Discogs, it seemed to be around this time that the label also got into the habit of releasing compilations geared towards the clubs and the dance floor. At first these records were mostly hip-hop focused, but as time went on, the label eventually started to embrace the then new sound of house music.

I focused on one of these releases a few months ago, the awesome Jive Presents Acid House, but tonight I’m going to put the spotlight on the labels’ very first house compilation, 1988’s Jive Presents In-House Volume 1. While Jive had yet to attach the “acid” moniker to the music on this compilation, many of the tunes on the In-House album are clearly some of the earliest examples of the acid house sound making its way into the pop dance scene. It’s not all the way there yet, much of In-House lacks the edge and attitude of acid house that would come just a year later, but it’s clearly hear, and its fascinating to hear a genre really finding its footing, getting ready to claim the first half of the 90s for its own.

Enjoy, and if you have any insight as to other super-early acid house compilations or releases (aside from “Acid Trax,” I am aware) please let me know!

Samantha Fox
I Wanna Have Some Fun
While it’s not credited as such on the linear notes, this is a remix of Fox’s biggest hit, one that is double the length of the original and has an overall production feel that is less “poppy” and more pure dance. It’s still a silly, cute song though.

Culture Clash Dance Party
Love Fever (Fever Mix)
THIS SONG IS AWESOME AND I LOVE AND IT’S REALLY GOOD AND I WISH I KNEW MORE ABOUT CULTURE CLASH DANCE PARTY BECAUSE THEY SEEM PRETTY RAD.

She Rockers
Get Up On This
The She Rockers aren’t the world’s best rappers, but they got attitude that more than makes up for it. This shit sounds like an edgy Technotronic. I love it.

The Wee Papa Girls
We Know It
The worst named act in late 80s acid house is back! The Wee Papa Girls also appeared on the Jive Presents Acid House album, but this song is much better than the tune the contributed to that album. Expect some more from the Wee Papa Girls next week.

Children Of The Night
It’s a Trip (Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out)
Children Of The Night contributed one of my favorite tracks to the Jive Presents Acid House album, so it’s not surprising that they deliver another great banger here. This is the first track on the album that really sounds like acid house in both style and lyrical content (especially thanks to its parenthetical title). A great song, the best on the album if you ask me.

Adonis And The Acid Slaves
House Will Never Die
Adonis and the Acid Slaves is Michael A. Smith, a DJ/producer who first started releasing music in the late 80s. According to his Discogs page he has about a billion aliases, including Black Balls, Jack Frost, Percy Richblood and The Circle Jerks (no, not the punk band). He is also responsible for the mixes of “Love Fever” and “Get Up On This” that appear on this very album. Of all the tracks on this record, this is the one that sounds the most like acid house, complete with squelching “acid” sounds and constant references to acid slaves. It also has the best lyric of the album: “Do you want house? Or do you want bluegrass?”

If I saw this dude live back in the day I would have been the asshole to say “I want bluegrass!”

Posted in Adonis And The Acid Slaves, Children Of The Night, Complete Albums, Culture Class Dance Party, remixes, Samantha Fox, She Rockers, The Wee Papa Girls | 2 Comments »

Jive Presents Acid House

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

Are you ready for some acid house?

Acid house, for you young kids out there who may not know, was one of the most influential and important dance sub-genres of the late-80/early-90s. It was an offshoot of Chicago house that employed the unique properties of the Roland TB-303 synthesizer-sequencer to create a sound that was more electronic, bizarre and trippy than anything that had been heard before. If you’re interested in reading more about the genre’s history and its sound, I suggest checking out the wiki, although it barely touches on the importance and lasting impact of the genre.

I think acid house has been kind of forgotten by the younger generation of electronic music fans, which is a shame as it was a key point in the history of electronic music. Before acid house, most dance music still had one foot in disco, relying way too much on four-on-the-floor beats and kick drums. By the time acid house made its way to England in the early 90s, it had stripped all of those aspects away, becoming one of the first purely electronic forms of dance music. Yes, I know other electronic dance music existed well before acid house, but it was one of the first to really catch on with the club crowd in a big way. Hell, as that wiki mentions it’s probably solely responsible for the birth of the UK rave scene (well, that and ecstasy).

That’s the scene that gave birth to Underworld, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, The Orb, Prodigy and countless others acts that would go on to dominate electronic music (and to some extent pop music) in the later half of the 90s. Do you like electronic music? Then you should at least respect acid house, because without it your favorite electronic artists of today probably wouldn’t exist.

Which brings us to this album, one of the earliest compilations of the genre that I can think of. All the tracks on this record exemplify what made acid house acid house; simple beats, remixed and sampled vocals; and more 303 “squelch” sounds than you can shake an off-brand drum machine at. All awesome stuff, so let’s get into it.

Lisa M
Rock to The Beat (Short Circuit Mix)
A great seven and a half minute jam that combines the excellent acid sounds of the genre with some amazing vocals by Lisa M, whose full name is Lisa Moorish. She released one album, I’ve Gotta have It All, in 1996 on Go! Beat, but I think that was her only release as a solo artist. Since then the London-based singer has appeared as a backup singer on a few different releases, including singles for Ash, Oasis and Babyshambles. Didn’t see that one coming. This is one of the best songs on the album.

The Wee Papa Girls
Blow The House Down (Hard Core Mix)
The hideously-named Wee Papa Girls were a UK-based pair of rappers who released two albums on Jive in the late 80s and early 90s before calling it quits. I can’t find much in the way in activity for either of the girls after they split up. To be honest, their vocals are the least interesting thing on this excellent track, one again it’s the radical sequencer work that steals the show. Love this tune, it’s a sonic freakout.

Children Of The Night Featuring Rankin’ Roger
We Play Ska (Trojan Horse Mix)
While “We Play Ska” is a really odd name for an acid house tune, it’s a pretty accurate one. If there ever was a ska/house mash-up, it would be this track, thanks to is offbeat combination of 303 acid grooves with reggae vocals, trumpets and what sounds like a sample from a vintage ska track. We’ve been over how I feel about ska, but I do love anything with a hard 303 sequence, so I dig this track.

As for the people behind the music, Children Of the Night were Neil Rushton and Wayne Archbold, two DJ/producers who did more stuff behind the scenes as managers and producers than as artists themselves.  Rankin’ Roger is the MC on the track, and he released two CDs, one in 1988 and another in 2001. So I’m really looking forward to his 2014 release.

Mr. Lee and The Chi Town Posse
Pump It Up (Pump the Acid Remix)
Mr. Lee is a Chicago-born rapper who found some success in London in the early 90s thanks to his dance/rap hybrid style. Other dance hits by Mr. Lee include “Pump Up London,” “Pump Up Chicago” and “Pump That Body.” Apparently, the dude was pumped and wanted you to be as well. I’m not a huge fan of his rapping, but I love the sequencing on this tune.

And before you ask, I have no idea who The Chi Town Posse is.

Big Fun
Living For Your Love (Blow the Amp Mix)
Big Fun were a boy band, but apparently someone in their production group decided they should have an acid house remix. I’ve never heard the original version of this track, but I bet it’s pretty different than this remix, which is over seven minutes long and dissolves into nothing more than a sequencer melody and a drum beat near the end. Not a horrible track, but definitely the weakest song on this album.

Rhythm Is Rhythm
Beyond The Dance
Rhythm Is Rhythm is Derrick May.

Derrick May, in case you aren’t aware, was one of the originators of Detroit Techno. Meaning he’s one of the originators of techno as a genre of music. So yeah, he’s a big deal. Needless to say, this song is fucking fantastic and you should listen to it now.

 

Posted in Big Fun, Children Of The Night, Complete Albums, Derrick May, Lisa M, Mr. Lee and The Chi Town Posse, Rankin' Roger, Rhythm Is Rhythm, The Wee Papa Girls | 12 Comments »